Then and Again
by No one specific
Summary: Kabuto is taken prisoner and Anko is trying to interrogate sp? him because of a past friendship. They both think they helped the other one in their past. Kabuto/Anko. One-shot


Then and again

_**Then and again**_

_**by No one specific  
a Kabuto and Anko fan fiction**_

_Anko loved Orochimaru. When he'd taken her to his hideout, she'd been honored to go. Now she was there. She was fourteen years old and didn't know anyone. She tugged at her jacket in her room. It was a small room, but she'd always been used to small rooms. It was about half the size of her apartment back home._

"_Who're you?" a kid asked. He had silver hair and glasses, as well as a dark purple jacket._

"_I am Anko. Anko Mitarashi."_

"_What kind of name is that?" the kid asked, "My name's Kabuto Yakushi."_

"_Kabuto? You think _my_ name's bad? You're one to talk."_

"_Yeah, right. You're just jealous."_

"_Of you? Yeah, right. Orochimaru likes me better," Anko said._

"_Why do you say that?"_

"_Because he said that he's giving me a curse seal," Anko said._

* * *

Anko walked across the hallway to where they were holding the prisoner. She hadn't seen him yet.

"Hey, Anko," Ibiki said as she walked in.

"Who is it?" Anko asked. She walked over and saw Kabuto through the one way glass (think Law & Order). He was handcuffed to the chair. He looked straight ahead of him.

"You were a friend of his, weren't you?" Kotetsu asked.

"Yes," Anko said.

"Could you talk to him?" Izumo asked.

"I suppose. What do you want to know?" Anko asked.

"We want to know where Orochimaru is," Ibiki said, "Get him to tell us that, and we'll consider that when we decide what to do with him."

"Got it," Anko said.

She walked over to the door to go in. Ibiki grabbed her shoulder.

Anko glanced up at him.

"You don't have to. We can do this without you doing this," Ibiki said.

Anko smirked, "Don't worry about it. I can do this."

* * *

"_I brought you some food," Kabuto said._

"_So what do you want?" Anko asked._

"_Nothing! I'm just bringing you some food," Kabuto whined._

"_From what you said last night, I thought you hated me," Anko snapped._

"_What'd I say?"_

"_It's more your attitude," she said._

"_Whatever it is that I said, I'm sorry," Kabuto whined._

"_Could you quit whining?" Anko asked._

"_I'm sorry," he said._

"_It's fine," Anko said as she reached over and gabbed Kabuto's food that he brought._

_Kabuto watched her eat._

"_Do you like it here?" Kabuto asked._

"_It's ok. The ceiling in the bathroom leaks, and the food tastes like shit, but apart from that, it's fine," she said._

"_Th-that's good!"_

"_Man, you're weird. How old are you?"_

"_Twelve."_

"_I'm thirteen."_

"_Cool."_

* * *

Anko walked into the room where Kabuto was handcuffed.

"Hey, Kabuto," Anko said, "This does seem backwards."

"So what do you plan to do?" Kabuto asked sharply.

"What do you mean?"

"You're currently working with the torture and interrogation unit to try to get information about Orochimaru. Do you honestly think I'm that stupid?" Kabuto asked.

Anko laughed coolly. "I guess I got you," she said, "So how's it going?"

"Apart from being handcuffed to a chair in Konoha with a psycho witch trying to interrogate me with the even more psycho freak watching us through a one-way glass window, I'm fine," Kabuto said in one breath.

"Good," Anko said dully.

"So how's it going with you?" Kabuto asked.

"Pretty good," Anko said.

"So now what?" Kabuto asked.

"I guess I'm just going to be sitting here until you tell us what where Orochimaru is," Anko said.

They stared at each other.

* * *

_Anko woke up and Orochimaru walked her down to where he was going to give her the curse mark._

"_Are you ready?" Orochimaru asked._

"_A bit nervous," Anko confessed._

"_You'll do fine," Orochimaru said, "You're stronger than most people."_

"_Is that why you're not going to give it to Kabuto?"_

_Orochimaru nodded._

* * *

Fifteen hours later

Kabuto was half asleep now. He was exhausted. He'd been awake since…how long? At least thirty-six hours. When they'd captured him, they hadn't let him sleep, and neither was Ibiki, and Anko wasn't that nice about it either.

Anko had been coming and going every three hours. She'd stay about an hour, but those were the times when Kabuto gave off little hints about things, that he didn't even know he was doing. He was giving off ways in which he breaks.

"Are you alright now?" Anko asked, "Are you going to tell us how to find Orochimaru? Are you?"

"No. I can't," Kabuto said.

"Why not? Will you betray your village?"

"I'm not going to betray the village," he said unwaveringly.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes," Kabuto said.

"We're not going to let you sleep," Anko explained.

"That's fine," Kabuto said.

"Are you sure?"

"It's fine," Kabuto said, "I'm not tired."

"Why don't you just tell us where Orochimaru was?"

"Because it's the same reason that you won't betray Konoha," Kabuto explained.

"I won't betray Konoha because this is where I belong. These are the people who helped me when Orochimaru hurt me. After everything that'd happened, they still stuck with me. They didn't betray me!"

"Orochimaru did the same for me," Kabuto said.

* * *

"_Are you alright?" Kabuto asked._

_Anko moaned and lay down on her bed. She forced her eyes opened and looked at Kabuto._

"_I'm fine," she managed to say._

_Kabuto gave her a pill, "It'll help with the pain."_

_Anko gratefully took it._

"When did Orochimaru save you? He hurt you more than he helped you! You were just brainwashed by him! What did he do for you?"

"Don't say you've forgotten!"

"Everything he did to help you was to fix you up so that he could hurt you again, even though those injuries were given to you by Orochimaru."

"Not everything!"

"But a lot of them!"

"_Are you alright?" Anko asked._

_Kabuto's wrist was bandaged, and his back was black and blue._

"_It's fine. Orochimaru was trying a new jutsu on me," Kabuto explained, "but I'm fine."_

"_Is he going to do anything for you?"_

"_He always does eventually, just so that he can do something else."_

"_So he does it for his own use," Anko said._

"_Yeah. But I'm fine with it," he said._

"_Why?"_

"_Because he won't let me die," Kabuto said._

"_So it doesn't bother you that he's doing all this to you?"_

"_He's saved my life," Kabuto said, "I owe him everything of mine."_

"_Do you owe him yourself?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Your soul? Your body? Everything?"_

"_Yes. I owe him everything. I'm going to give all of myself to him. Because what am I without him?"_"Anko, come back," Ibiki said awhile later through the headsets.

* * *

"I'm going, Kabuto. I'll be back later. But you're not going anywhere. Is there anything you'd like to say now?" she asked, "And I'm not going to see you again."

"Yes."

"Stay a minute," Izumo said.

Anko looked at him.

"Don't use other people to define yourself. And also…" he paused.

"Yes?"

"If you remember what happened when you ran away, you don't owe me anything. You've returned the favor already," Kabuto said.

* * *

"_Are you sure you want to leave?" Kabuto asked, "We can wait awhile more."_

"_I can't," Anko said, "I need to seal this off officially. I can only control it to an extent. It'll take over me."_

_Kabuto smiled sadly. "Well, here are the maps to get out of here and some supplies. I've packed a change of clothes for you and some food."_

_Anko smiled sadly, also. "What's Orochimaru going to do to you?"_

_Kabuto shrugged, "I don't know."_

"_Do you still think you owe him everything?"_

"_Not everything. Part of me is always yours, as long as you want it," Kabuto said as he kissed Anko. Anko kissed him back._

"_Why won't you come with me?" Anko asked._

"_Because someone has to cover for you," Kabuto said._

"_I'm not ever going to forget this," she whispered._

"_I know. And don't worry; I'll take part of your spirit with me to Konoha. One day you'll be there, too. I'll help you escape," Anko said._

* * *

Anko came home and showered. Then she changed into something clean and lay down on her bed. It'd been a long time since she'd had a good nights' sleep, and she guessed that tonight wasn't going to be the best.

She lay down and stared at the ceiling. What had Kabuto meant? She hadn't saved him. She just let him stay there.

* * *

Kabuto lay down in his cell. He knew that he wasn't going to see Anko again. He was sure of that. He didn't want her to see him like this. He was weak. Not like Anko was. She'd run away. She didn't use Orochimaru- or anyone else- to define her. She used herself.

Running away was not just physically leaving. Even if you physically ran away, you could still be mentally trapped. Like Kabuto was now. But staying behind to take a hit in order to save someone else…giving part of yourself to someone to protect- not because you owe them-…being willing take a hit for someone else…if that was considered running away, Anko never needed to run away.

When Kabuto had helped Anko run away, she wasn't running away. He was doing the running. He was the one who owed her.

But she never let herself become captured in the first place.

* * *

**So, I wrote this over vacation. 10 days is a good vacation, but it just about drove me insane.** **Anyway, this is a favorite couple of mine. I think that Kabuto/Anko is overlooked. I love the way this one turned out. Please review!**

**Love,**

**No one specific**


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